Ethics CommitteeThis committee's purpose is to encourage the use of the Society's
Code of Ethics, which promotes the highest professional standards for journalists
of all disciplines. Public concerns are often answered by this committee. It
also acts as a spotter for reporting trends in the nation, accumulating case
studies of jobs well done under trying circumstances.

Ethics Committee chair

Lynn Walsh
Assistant Director
Trusting News ProjectEmail @LWalshBio (click to expand)
Lynn Walsh is an Emmy award-winning journalist who has worked in investigative, data and TV journalism for more than 10 years. Currently, she is a freelance journalist and the Assistant Director for the Trusting News project, where she works to help rebuild trust between journalists and the public by working with newsrooms to be more transparent about how they do their jobs.

She is a past national president for the Society of Professional Journalists. During her term, she spoke out against threats to the First Amendment while working to protect and defend journalists and journalism. She also serves the journalism organization as a member of SPJs FOI committee and is the current Ethics Chair. Lynn was also selected to represent SPJ on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee where she worked to recommend changes to help improve the national FOIA process.

Previously she led the NBC 7 Investigates and NBC 7 Responds teams in San Diego, California for KNSD-TV. Prior to working in California, she was working as data producer and investigative reporter for the E.W. Scripps National Desk producing stories for the 30+ Scripps news organizations across the country. Before moving to the national desk, she worked as the Investigative Producer at WPTV, NewsChannel 5, in West Palm Beach, Florida.

She has won state and local awards as well as multiple Emmys for her stories. She loves holding the powerful accountable and spends more time than she would like fighting for access to public information. Lynn travels around the country, teaching journalists and students about the latest innovative storytelling techniques and how to produce ethical content, no matter the medium.

Lynn is a proud Bobcat Alumna and graduated from the Ohio Universitys E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. She loves the beach, sunsets, exploring the world and attempting new yoga poses. She believes the glass is half-full, the truth is always out there and that hard work, dedication and personality can make any dream come true.

The Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists is an open document. The more its distributed  and used  the better. The code is not intended to be arcane or cryptic. It is not like a secret handshake intended for use only by the members of some mystic order. If it were, we would put something at the bottom similar to what is run in television ads for zippy cars: Professional Driver. Closed Course. Do Not Attempt.

There is nothing in the code that prevents non-journalists from accessing it and using it. Its readily available online. Members of the public are free to refer to the code when they want to call attention to what they perceive to be a news mediums questionable ethics.

But this should be made clear: The code is entirely voluntary. It is not a legal document; it has no enforcement provisions or penalties for violations, and SPJ strongly discourages anyone from attempting to use it that way. The codes only check on ethical misdeeds is expressed in the final of its four main principles: Be Accountable. There, journalists are told that they should expose unethical practices of journalists and the news media. We believe a free exchange of ideas  not any sort of sanction  is the best way of getting at the truth, at who is right and who is wrong.

The SPJ code is the gold standard of aspirational codes of ethics, and it has been used by many news outlets as the basis for more formal and detailed codes. Employers codes of ethics are much more specific, and there are penalties for violating them. Reporters have been fired for plagiarizing, for accepting gifts or for other ethical breaches. An employer can do that; an association of volunteers cannot. Many news media make their codes available to all, and they encourage the public to hold them accountable for the standards expressed in those codes. SPJ applauds that embrace of transparency.

At the end of the SPJ Code of Ethics, after the actual working principles, is this important explanatory caution: The code is intended not as a set of rules but as a resource for ethical decision-making. It is not  nor can it be under the First Amendment  legally enforceable.

The SPJ Code of Ethics, in other words, is available for anyone to see and to refer to. But when its quoted, it should be properly attributed  and, we would hope, not taken out of context or misinterpreted. Such questionable uses of the code inevitably will be questioned  thats the nature of free expression, and an extension of the principle of accountability.

Thousands of responsible, ethical journalists follow the SPJ Code of Ethics and adhere to it. The most important thing to remember is that its a set of principles that is open to interpretation and discussion, not a statute or a constitution or a set of regulations. There is nothing about it that can be or should be considered a legal or binding requirement.

This statement expresses the views of the SPJ Ethics Committee. It was written for the committee by its vice chairman, Fred Brown, who covered state and national politics and government for nearly 40 years for The Denver Post.

Ethics CommitteeThis committee's purpose is to encourage the use of the Society's
Code of Ethics, which promotes the highest professional standards for journalists
of all disciplines. Public concerns are often answered by this committee. It
also acts as a spotter for reporting trends in the nation, accumulating case
studies of jobs well done under trying circumstances.